Stormont’s mental health strategy being scaled back due to lack of funds is “absolutely devastating”, Northern Ireland’s mental health champion has said.
Prof Siobhan O’Neill said the news was disastrous after a review into the 10-year strategy found that only £12.3m had been invested in 14 actions since it was published four years ago – just 16% of what was deemed necessary up to this point.
It was estimated £1.2bn was needed to implement the 35 actions initially set out, but the Department for Health is now stripping back its plan.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said “no additional funding” has been allocated to support the strategy since its publication in 2021.
He added that he was “personally disappointed” that the deliverability review had to be conducted halfway through the strategy but that the new approach would be a “sharpening of our focus to maximise impact within the resources available”.
However Prof O’Neill said it was devastating news, particularly for those involved in developing the strategy and the schemes that are already under way.
“It really is disastrous and our executive need to take a good look at this and think about what kind of society we want here,” she told the Good Morning Ulster programme.
Of the 35 actions, 15 actions have not begun and have received no funding, according to the review.
Prof O’Neill said Northern Ireland continues to spend less on mental health services per head than other regions, despite having “more complex cases”.
“We have a particular history that means our mental health problems are unique and different so our executive need to act on this and they need to do it now, it’s simply not good enough,” she added.
Northern Ireland spent £212 per person for mental health services compared with £264 per person in England, according to the Department’s Strategic Planning & Performance Group.
The review states the focus for 2026/27 will be on developing the mental health workforce and regional mental health crisis services.
In the following years, there will also be a focus on the mental health of older people, children and teenagers; support for people with severe and enduring mental ill health; and digital mental health.
The health minister said the “financial constraints” within his department are “well documented”.
He added: “This review does not represent a dilution of our commitment to delivering for mental health, but rather a sharpening of our focus to maximise impact within the resources available.
“Our ambition remains strong, but it must be focused.”
Nesbitt said mental health remains a “personal priority” for him and that he will continue to make the case that “sustained and additional investment” is necessary for the full strategy to be realised.